Chapter 38: Confidential
Originally, when he saw her, he had thought about lowering the price afterwards and creating opportunities to interact with her.
Perhaps, if things went well, he might even become her husband. That was why he had deliberately inflated the price several times over.
Normally, even one hour of laboratory use wouldn’t cost that much. But now, if what she said was true... then... his brother-in-law, the laboratory director, would skin him alive.
The job he had now belonged to his younger brother Ou Jiyong. But his brother made a mistake of inflating the price and offending a big shot.
His instincts were telling him that he might be about to commit the same mistake.
So he immediately straightened his posture.
His smile became extremely professional. "Of course, Miss. That is more than enough."
Ni Mengxue nodded and took out one hundred kilograms of pure rice as a deposit.
After confirming the payment, Ou Yang personally led her inside.
Along the way, his mind was filled with only one thought.
’You dodged a bullet! You were so close to losing your job now!’
The laboratory area was even more advanced than the reception hall.
Rows of glass cabinets contained various chemicals. Shiny metal instruments lined the walls.
There were centrifuges, heating equipment, filtration devices, measuring tools, and several machines that Ni Mengxue was familiar with.
Stopping in front of a medium-sized laboratory room, Ou Yang politely said,
"If you use any chemicals or materials inside, additional fees will apply."
Ni Mengxue nodded. "I understand."
Only after Ou Yang completely left did she lock the laboratory door.
Then, with a wave of her hand, ten ’poison’, aka ’ability’, fruits appeared on the table.
The fruits were roughly the size of peaches.
Their skins were dark purple with faint silver veins spreading across the surface.
She also took out several medicinal herbs from her space.
Honeysuckle, liquorice root, mint, wild chrysanthemum and a strange blue herb called Clear Spirit Grass.
Before arriving here, she had gone to Jamie and with the previous remaining balance bought the herbs.
The first four herbs existed before the apocalypse and possessed detoxifying properties.
The last one was a mutated herb found in the batch of herbs found by the mercenary.
With how casually it was thrown alongside low-grade herbs, it was clear that no one knew its importance.
It had the ability to stabilise violent energy. Ni Mengxue first washed the Ability Fruit.
Then she carefully peeled away the outer skin. The dark-purple flesh inside released a faint sweet fragrance.
However, the moment the flesh was exposed to air, it slowly emitted a gray mist. Poison.
Ni Mengxue immediately placed the flesh into a glass container.
Then she crushed the detoxifying herbs separately.
Their juices were filtered and mixed together before being added to the fruit extract. The liquid immediately changed colour.
The entire container suddenly produced smoke. The liquid turned into a foul-smelling black substance.
Ni Mengxue stared silently at the failed experiment.
"First attempt. Failed."
She calmly wrote down her observations.
’Detoxification too strong. Active energy destroyed.’
Even though she knew the proportions, the main problem was the herbs of this world. The real recipe was completely different from what she was using.
The herbs of her previous life weren’t present here, so she was using the substitutes of each of them.
For the second attempt, she reduced the amount of herbs. This time, the mixture remained stable.
Ni Mengxue’s eyes brightened. However, after several minutes, the liquid suddenly produced white crystals.
The energy completely solidified. Another failure.
"Second attempt. Failed."
’Energy instability.’
The third attempt lasted even shorter. The fruit extract reacted violently with the mutated herb and instantly turned dark green.
Even through the glass container, Ni Mengxue could smell the unpleasant odor.
She immediately discarded it. "Third attempt. Failed."
Ni Mengxue leaned against the chair and sighed.
As expected, even with memories from her previous life, replicating medicines wasn’t easy.
After resting for several minutes, she stood up again.
Failure didn’t discourage her. Instead, it made her more excited.
Because each failure brought her one step closer to success. The fourth experiment began.
This time, she carefully adjusted every gram of herbs.
Every drop of extract, every minute of heating. The laboratory gradually became silent.
Finally, the dark purple colour turned into the lavender-coloured liquid, and a pleasant fragrance started to spread in the air.
Rather than rushing to test it, she exited the room and saw Ou Yang standing outside. "Mr Ou, do you have any test subjects?"
"We do; there will be a separate charge for them." Ou Yang said with an ingratiating smile.
"Sure. Just deduct it from the deposit I have given, and if it is lacking, just let me know." Ni Mengxue proposed.
Ou Yang, though delighted and wanting to dance, nodded respectfully. "Please wait a moment, Miss Ni."
He turned around and left. About ten minutes later, he returned with five tall men dressed in simple grey uniforms.
Each of them wore a number plate around their necks. Ni Mengxue swept her gaze across them.
Some looked nervous, and others appeared indifferent, as though they had long since become accustomed to being test subjects.
She didn’t immediately take out the potion. Instead, she calmly asked, "Are all of you participating willingly?"
The five men exchanged glances before nodding one after another.
"Yes."
"We all signed the laboratory’s agreement."
"I volunteered."
"I did too."
Only after receiving everyone’s confirmation did Ni Mengxue continue. "The medicine I’m about to test may be painful. It may also produce unexpected reactions. I can’t guarantee absolute safety."
She paused before adding, "If any positive effects appear, I also hope all of you will keep today’s experiment confidential."
The five men naturally had no objections. After all, confidentiality agreements were commonplace inside research laboratories.
Ni Mengxue looked toward Ou Yang. "I’d like them to sign an additional confidentiality agreement."
Ou Yang was briefly stunned. "...Another one?"
"Yes."
"And I want to sign one with Cang Laboratory again."